Victorian comparative religion writing

James Anson Farrer

1849 – 1925

James Anson Farrer was an English barrister and prolific Victorian author whose works examined comparative religion, primitive customs, and heterodox belief, including Paganism and Christianity (1891), which analyzed the relationship between pre-Christian and Christian religious practice from a rationalist perspective. He also wrote on literary forgeries and social history, bringing a lawyer's analytical rigor to questions of religious authenticity and the survival of pagan practice in Christian culture. His comparative approach contributed to the Victorian project of tracing continuities between ancient religion and contemporary folk belief.